Ground-effect guide facility for a machine moving along a track

ABSTRACT

Ground-effect guide facility for a machine on a track by way of a series of at least two consecutive fluid cushions connected resiliently to the machine structure. The cushions are so devised that the forces transmitted to the structure decrease with effect from a pivot cushion. The resilient connecting assemblies between the cushions and the machine structure are balloons supplied with fluid through calibrated entry orifices, the balloons being formed with calibrated outlet orifices so that the pressure in any balloon is at a predetermined mean value. This facility is of use for tracked ground effect machines.

United States Patent mi Bertin [111 3,744,429 51 July 10, 1973 GROUND-EFFECT GUIDE FACILITY FOR A MACHINE MQYING ALONG A TRACK [75] Inventor:

France [7 3] Assignee: Bertin & Cie, Plaisir, France [22] Filed: May 17, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 144,131

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data A May 20, 1970 France 7018357 [52] U.S. Cl 104/23 FS, 180/117 [51] Int. Cl B6lb 13/08 [58] .Field of Search 104/23 FS, 134;

[56] References Cited UNITED, STATES PATENTS 3,581,667 6/1971 Bertin..... 104/23 FS 3,267,882 8/1966 Rapson 180/124 Jean Henri Bertin, Neuilly-sur-Seine,

3,332,361 7/1967 Bertin 104/23 IFS Primary Examiner-Gerald M. Forlenza Assistant Examiner-D. W. Keen Attorney-Alfred W. Breiner s71 ABSTRACT Ground-effect guide facility for a machine on a track by way of a series of at least two consecutive fluid cushions connected resiliently to the machine structure.

The cushions are so devised that the forces transmitted to the structure decrease with effect from a pivot cushion. The resilient connecting assemblies between the cushions and the machine structure are balloons supplied with fluid through calibrated entry orifices, the balloons being formed with calibrated outlet orifices so that the pressure in any balloon'is at a predetermined mean value.

This facility is of use for tracked ground effect machines.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU JUL 1 01973 SHEEI 3 [IF 3 GROUND-EFFECT GUIDE FACILITY FOR A MACHINE MOVING ALONG A TRACK This invention relates to a machine, e.g., a ground effect machine, moving along a track of some conventional shape (U, inverted-T, L or other cross-section), more particularly to guidance of the machine by means of fluid cushions bearing on at least two opposite and, as a rule, vertical surfaces, as disclosed inter alia by Bertin et al.s US. Pat. No. 3,190,235.

The normal practice is for the machine to have two guiding facilities, one at the front and one at the back. Each 'facility comprises at least two cushions cooperating with the two guiding surfaces of the track.

guiding forces are transmitted to the machine structure in a satisfactorily distributed manner, inter alia on curves.

According to the invention, each facility for providing guidance by ground effect in co-operation with the guiding surfaces of a track comprises at least two consecutive cushions resiliently connected to the machine structure and so devised that the forces transmitted to such structure decrease with effect from a master cushion among said consecutive cushions, which will be called a pivot cushion.

Preferably, the resilient connecting assemblies between the cushions and the machine structure are balloons supplies with fluid through calibrated entry orifices, the balloons being formed with calibrated outlet orifices so that the pressure in any balloon is at a predete'rmined mean value.

Balloon pressure determines cushion pressure in the light of the area of bearing engagement between the cushion and the balloon. Consequently the leakage clearance between the cushion edges and the track guide surface is greater in proportion as the balloon pressure is lower. If the calibrated inlet and outlet orifices are appropriate, the forces transmitted to the structure can be arranged to decrease with effect from the pivot cushion.

According to a technical feature of the invention, the balloon of the pivot element is supplied with fluid directly from an appropriate pressure source, the exit or oulet orifice of such balloon being the inlet or entry orifice for the adjacent balloon, and the outlet orifice of the last-mentioned balloon being the input orifice for track guide surface and the cushions of the guide facility is least for the pivot cushion and most for the cushion furthest away from the pivot cushion. Guiding is in this case provided mainly by the pivot cushion. On a curve the front cushion is the first to move towards the guiding surface of the track, and its pressure increases; the associated balloon is compressed so that there is no physical contact between the containing skirts of the cushion and the track. Since balloon volume decreases, balloon pressure increases, so that the pressure in the adjacent balloon increases and so on as far as the pivot."

Clearly, therefore, the force transmitted to the structure bythe front cushion is limited by the compression of the associated balloon; also, more forces are transmitted by the'other cushions because of the pressure increase in the various balloons. The guiding force is therefore not all concentrated on just one cushion, so that the object of this invention is achieved.

The invention will become clearly apparent from the following exemplary non-limitative description taken.

together with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a partial view in horizontal section of a guiding facility according to the invention disposed opposite plane guiding surfaces of the track;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 but showing the position which the facility takes up in association with curved guiding surfaces;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing pressures cushions;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view similar to FIG. constructional variant; and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are a plan view and side view, respectively, of a system of guide elements fitted to a ground effect machine.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a vertical track extension 7 has opposite guiding surfaces 8, 9. Disposed on each side of extension 7 are cushions of known kind; there are cushions 1-6 and 10 on one side and cushions 11-17 on the other. Interposed between the cushions and machine structure 18 are resilient members, e.g. balloons or like deformable chambers 21-26 and 30 associated with the cushions 1-6 and 10 respectively, and balloons 19, 20, 27-32 associated with the cushions 11-17 respectively.

The cushion 1 together with its associated balloon in the guiding 21, playing the part of a master element, is called a pivot for one guiding side and the cushion 11 together with its associated balloon 19 is called pivot for the other guiding side. Clearly, the cushions and balloons are doubly symmetrical, being symmetrical of the guide extension 7 in conventional manner and also being symmetrical of the pivots 1 and 11, on each side of which there are the same number of associated cushions and balloons.

The cushions are supplied with fluid from a source (not shown) through lines 34 branching off a main supply line 33 and through lines 36 branching off a main supply line 35. The supply pressure P is the same for all cushions.

The balloon 21 of the pivot cushion l is supplied with fluid via a line'37 and the balloon 19 of the like pivot 11 on the other side is supplied through a line 38. The supply pressure Pa of the balloons 2 1, 19 is at the most the same as'the supply pressure P of the cushions and the source is, with advantage, the same as the source for the cushions. Balloon 22 is supplied with fluid from balloon 21 through a line 39, balloon 23 is supplied with fluid from balloon 22 through a line 40, and balloon 25 is supplied from balloon 23 through a line 41. Balloon 25 is formed with an'outlet orifice 42 which communicates with atmosphere. Balloon-24 is supplied lbutofa' through 54 from balloon 21, balloon 26 is supplied through 55 from balloon 24, and balloon 30 is supplied through 56 from balloon 26; balloon 30 is formed with an orifice 43 which communicates with atmosphere. The lines between the various balloons can be of different dimensions. In view of the double symmetry of the the direction indicated by an arrow Fand enters a curve, the front cushion 5 is the first to move towards the guiding surface 8. The gap between the containing skirts 44 of cushion 5 and the surface 8 decreases, so that the pressure of the cushion 5 increases and the forces applied thereby to its associated balloon 25 increases, such balloon flattening all the more readily because its pressure is low; because of this flattening, the skirts 44 do not contact the surface 8. The same phenomenon occurs when the next cushion 3 enters the curve, followed by the cushion 2 and so on.

At the very beginning of flattenting the pressure of balloon 25 increases slightly, thus acting through 41 to increase the pressure of balloon 23 which in turn acts through 40 to increase the pressure of balloon 22, and so on through 39 to increase the pressure of balloon 21. Consequently, when the vehicle is negotiating a curve where centrifugal force increases the guiding force to an appreciably higher value than for straight-ahead travel, this force is not applied just to a restricted part of the structure, for the number of operative cushions increases, as does the force applied to each cushion.

It has been assumed in the foregoing that the superficial areas by which a cushion acts on the guiding surface of the track extension 7 and on the balloon associated with the cushion are of the same dimensions, so that the pressure in such cushion and balloon would be the same. A very similar result would of course be achieved if the superficial areas by which a cushion acts on the guiding surface of the track and on the associated balloon differed.

FIG. 3 is a balloon pressure diagram:

P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6 and P10 being the pressures in the cushions 1-6 and 10 respectively. Clearly, the differential pressures APl, AP2 and AP3 can be of different values and depend upon the daylight clearance of the cushions and on the size of the ducts 39-41, 54-56.

ion 46 is less than the force which balloon 47 opposes to cushion 45. For equilibrium between them the pressure in cushion 46 must be lower than the pressure in cushion 45; this is achieved by the gap between the surface 8 and the skirts 50 of cushion 46 being larger than the gap between surface 8 and the skirts 51 of cushion 45 The pressures in the balloons 47, 48 may also of course differ from one another. For instance, to control the value of the force transmitted by a balloon to the structure 18, action can be taken on the common superficial area of the cushion and associated balloon and on the balloon pressure.

In a variant (not shown), a balloon such as the balloon 25 of FIG. 1, instead of being connected to the adjacent balloon 23, is connected to some other ballon, for instance, the balloon 22. The balloon 23 would be similarly connected to the balloon 21.

According to a feature of the invention, a number of systems of aligned balloons such as those shown in the previous drawings can be placed one above the other and thus work in parallel. Of course, the characteristics of two systems placed one above another may, if required, differ from one another in cushion and balloon dimensions, pressures and pivot siting.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show diagrammatically a cushion systern co-operating with the guiding surfaces of the track extension 7. There are two rows of cushions and associated balloons placed one above the other.

In a first embodiment, the pivots 52, 53 placed one above another are at the same pressure as one another and the pressure stepping of the other cushions and associated balloons is the same for each row. Altematively, the pressures of the pivots 52, 53 differ from one another and the pressure .stepping is different in each row. By using appropriate differnt pressures the operation of the guiding elements of the machine can readily be adjusted.

It has been assumed in the foregoing description that the system is symmetrical of the pivot. This implies an odd number of cushions and associated balloons. However, this is not essential; for instance, the scope of the invention is not exceeded if there are' more cushions in front of the pivot than behind it, and in the extreme case all the cushions can be disposed on the same side of the pivot.

I claim: 1. A ground-effect transportation system wherein a machine having a rigid structure is movable longitudinally along a track having a bend, comprising:

means defining a longitudinal row of contiguous fluid cushions transversely movable between said structure and said track and so designed that the forces transmitted to said machine by consectuitve cushions decrease from a master cushion selected in said row through the next successive cushions therealong,

inflatable balloons resiliently connecting said transversely movable fluid cushion defining means to said structure, each balloon having a calibrated pressure fluid inlet orifice and a calibrated pressure fluid outlet orifice, the inlet orifices of all the balloons except the master cushion balloon on the one hand and the outlet orifices of all the balloons except the balloon remotest from said master cushion balloon in said row on the other hand being mutually interconnected,

means on said machine for supplying pressure fluid to the inlet orifice of said master cushion balloon, and

means for venting the outlet orifice of said remotest balloon to the atmosphere, whereby a predetermined mean pressure value is established in every balloon.

2. A transportation system as claimed in claim 1,

wherein said master cushion occupies a central position in said row, the other cushions thereof being two by two symmetrically positioned about said master cush- 3. A transportation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlet orifice of said master cushion balloon is connected to the inlet orifice of the next adjacent balloon in the row, and likewise the outlet orifice of each successive balloon therealong is connected to the inlet orifice of the next adjacent balloon up to said remotest balloon.

cent thereto up to vsaid remotest balloon.

* a: a: a: 

1. A ground-effect transportation system wherein a machine having a rigid structure is movable longitudinally along a track having a bend, comprising: means defining a longitudinal row of contiguous fluid cushions transversely movable between said structure and said track and so designed that the forces transmitted to said machine by consecutive cushions decrease from a master cushion selected in said row through the next successive cushions therealong, inflatable balloons resiliently connecting said transversely movable fluid cushion defining means to said structure, each balloon having a calibrated pressure fluid inlet orifice and a calibrated pressure fluid outlet orifice, the inlet orifices of all the balloons except the master cushion balloon on the one hand and the outlet orifices of all the balloons except the balloon remotest from said master cushion balloon in said row on the other hand being mutually interconnected, means on said machine for supplying pressure fluid to the inlet orifice of said master cushion balloon, and means for venting the outlet orifice of said remotest balloon to the atmosphere, whereby a predetermined mean pressure value is established in every balloon.
 2. A transportation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said master cushion occupies a central position in said row, the other cushions thereof being two by two symmetrically positioned about said master cushion.
 3. A transportation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the outlet orifice of said master cushion balloon is connected to the inlet orifice of the next adjacent balloon in the row, and likewise the outlet orifice of each successive balloon therealong is connected to the inlet orifice of the next adjacent balloon up to said remotest balloon.
 4. A transportation system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the outlet orifice of said master cushion balloon is connected to the inlet orifice of the balloon following the balloon which is next adjacent to said master cushion balloon, and likewise the outlet orifice of every balloon in the row is connected to the inlet orifice of the balloon following the balloon which is next adjacent thereto up to said remotest balloon. 